Rights And Responsibilities-Frankenstein Essay, Research Paper

When you think of science you think of hypotheses

and conclusions, applications and benefits, which

are all for the good of humankind of course. And

with each new discovery, the human race takes one

step further away from all other species and one

step closer to perfection because that is the

quest. Right? The point is to take every proven

law and “unprove it” or “add on”. Scientists

invent and test for the sole purpose of education,

but is an end ever discussed? Of course a

glorious impact and immense gains for all, are

what we want to happen, but that isn’t always the

case. For every achievement there must be a

failure and no one wants that on their plate.

Just as in the case of Frankenstein and the

monster, a mistake was made and the inventor had

to acknowledge that, and correct what he had done. The only problem was that he didn’t. Victor Frankenstein used science to help him build a “monster”, but when his experiment failed, he wouldn’t take responsibility for his creation.

Science is about understanding nature. It incorporates all things around us and attempts to look at every hair, muscle and movement of an object to find out everything about it. Science is also about adding on to what already exists; this was a problem. When Dr. Frankenstein decided to introduce a new being into the world, he didn’t have to consult anyone, answer any questions or think into the future. With no monitoring, one scientist not only caused four unwarranted deaths, he endangered the lives of many more. “The death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife; even at that moment I knew not my only remaining friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend; my father even now might be writhing under his grasp, and Ernest might be dead at his feet.” Although Frankenstein was disgusted by his creation, he was still obligated to make sure that it was not running loose to cause harm and violence on the general public.

In many cases, the general public is the biggest concern during an experiment. They are the ones you are doing it for after all. If any chemical or other substances should escape the first regard is them, but that is because a chemical doesn’t have feelings. That was the difference in the case of Frankenstein and the monster. Like the general public, the monster did have feelings and emotions, the only difference was that he didn’t look like them. He felt love for the cottagers, whom he helped. “I remember, the first time that I did this, the young woman, when she opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly astonished on seeing a great pile of wood for the family fire, and during the night I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days.” The monster also felt pain brought on by the desertion of his creator, “But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thought; I was alone. I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.” Dr. Frankenstein had a responsibility to be his creation’s parental figure. It was molded and worked on solely by him and when “born”, it should have been looked after as well. Dr. Frankenstein was unhappy with the results of his experiment and he treated the monster in a way that displayed that disgust. If this was the way he dealt with all failures, he should have stuck with chemicals.

With every task that we take on in life, a certain responsibility comes with. For some efforts the duty may be large and others quite small, but in each situation safety should be the number one concern. Dr. Frankenstein not only caused four unwarranted deaths by his carelessness, he also hurt the monster. By caring only for the science aspect of his experiment a valuable soul was hurt and eventually lost. Frankenstein should have hypothesized from the beginning that his “child” would need a parent.